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After 48 days, Pune’s Navale hospital resumes patient admissions

Move follows non-teaching staff calling off strike over salary denial

4 min readPuneUpdated: Nov 12, 2025 10:44 PM IST

Only college students–both undergraduate and post-graduate--attended classes and anxiously waited for the hospital to resume patient admissions as clinical exposure is essential for their training. (Smt. Kashibai Navale Medical College and General Hospital/Facebook)

Smt Kashibai Navale Medical College and Hospital, which faced a serious situation with zero patients at the 700-bed facility for 48 days due to the strike by non-teaching staff, resumed patient admission on Wednesday.

A strike by the over 1,000 non-teaching staff including nurses from September 24 for non-payment of salaries for over six months had affected the functioning of the hospital.
Both undergraduate and postgraduate students were confined to academic activities with no clinical duties to engage in.

At a time when the hospital used to register close to 2,500 patients daily in the outpatient department (OPD) and even had to arrange floor beds to accommodate the patient load, the wards remained deserted. Only college students–both undergraduate and post-graduate–attended classes and anxiously waited for the hospital to resume patient admissions as clinical exposure is essential for their training.

“With no patients to attend to, we were struggling, as the lack of clinical exposure hinders our training and ability to provide essential care,” a post-graduate resident doctor had said on condition of anonymity. Authorities at Sinhgad Technical Education Society that runs the college said that non-teaching staff had called off the strike on Wednesday.

Dr Arvind Bhore, Medical Director at Smt Kashbibai Navale Medical College and General Hospital, admitted that there were zero patients at the hospital for nearly 48 days and added that authorities had been involved in making alternative arrangements. The management has assured the agitating staff of meeting their demands. Bhai Jagtap, a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council and a leader of the Bharatiya Kamgar Karmachari Mahasangh, also assured the agitating staff on Wednesday that their demands would be met.

Located at Ambegaon Narhe, the hospital was started in 2006 with just 300 beds and expanded to 1,200 beds. While 700 teaching beds were functional, the increasing patient number also led to upgradation of infrastructure to provide better care for patients. The medical college was also started with an initial intake of 100 students for the MBBS course in September 2007. The intake capacity for MBBS has increased to 150 students while there are close to 85 seats for post-graduate courses. The medical college and hospital is run by Sinhgad Technical Education Society (STES). The STES also runs several other institutions that offer engineering, management and other diploma and degree programmes.

In the recent past, the STES had its share of financial troubles and there have been protests due to the management’s failure to pay staff salaries. There were also allegations of defaulting on bank loans and the civic administration had also initiated action to recover unpaid property taxes. It was reliably learnt that the crisis at the hospital was also triggered as the hospital account was sealed and close to Rs 122 crore was recovered by the state I-T department.

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Dr Krishnakant Patil, dean, confirmed that close to Rs 122 crore was taken. “However, our account is open and we are making alternative arrangements,” Dr Patil had said.
When contacted, Prof M N Navale, president of Singhad Technical Education Society that runs the college and hospital told The Indian Express that they had to receive over Rs 300 crore from the state government as reimbursement of fees for students belonging to SC/ST, OBC, EBC, EWS categories, and girls from lower-income groups. “Altogether, this amounts to nearly 80% of the total fees. In addition, last year’s pending receivables amount to over ₹35 crore. Under these circumstances, the delay in salary payments has become unavoidable,” he said, adding that the hospital will resume operations shortly.

Anuradha Mascarenhas

Anuradha Mascarenhas is a Senior Editor at The Indian Express, based in Pune. With a career spanning three decades, she is one of the most respected voices in Indian journalism regarding healthcare, science and environment and research developments. She also takes a keen interest in covering women's issues . Professional Background Education: A gold medalist in Communication and Journalism from Savitribai Phule Pune University and a Master’s degree in Literature. Author: She authored the biography At The Wheel Of Research, which chronicles the life and work of Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the former Chief Scientist at the WHO. Key Focus: She combines scientific accuracy with storytelling, translating complex medical research into compelling public and human-interest narratives. Awards and Recognition Anuradha has won several awards including the Press Council of India's national award for excellence in journalism under the gender based reporting category in 2019 and the Laadli Media award (gender sensitivity -2024). A recipient of the Lokmat journalism award (gender category-2022), she was also shortlisted for the RedInk awards for excellence in journalism-2021. Her debut book At The Wheel Of Research, an exclusive biography of Dr Soumya Swaminathan the inaugural chief scientist of World Health Organisation was also nominated in the Popular Choice Category of JK Paper AUTHER awards. She has also secured competitive fellowships including the Laadli Media Fellowship (2022), the Survivors Against TB – New Research in TB Media Fellowship (2023) and is part of the prestigious 2025 India Cohort of the WomenLift Health Leadership Journey.” Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) 1. Cancer & Specialized Medical Care "Tata Memorial finds way to kill drug-resistant cancer cells" (Nov 26, 2025): Reporting on a breakthrough for triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease. Discipline, diet and purpose; How a 97-year-old professor defies ageing'' (Nov 15, 2025) Report about Prof Gururaj Mutalik, the first Head of Department at Pune's B J Government Medical College who at 97 credits his longevity to healthy habits and a strong sense of purpose. 2. Environmental Health (The "Breathless Pune" Series) Long-term exposure even to 'moderate' air leads to chronic heart, lung, kidney issues" (Nov 26, 2025): Part of an investigative series highlighting that even "safe" pollution levels are damaging to vital organs. "For every 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 level, there was 6-8% jump in medicine sales" (Nov 23, 2025): Using commercial data to prove the direct link between air quality and respiratory illnesses in Pune. 3. Lifestyle & Wellness News "They didn't let cancer, diabetes and heart disease stop them from travelling" (Dec 22, 2025): A collaborative piece featuring survivors who share practical tips for traveling with chronic conditions. At 17, his BP shot up to 200/120 mmHG; Lancet study flags why child and teen hypertension doubled between 2000 and 2020'' (Nov 12,2025)--A report that focusses on 17-year-old-boy's hypertensive crisis and reflects the rising global trend of high blood pressure among children and adolescents. 4. Scientific Recognition & Infrastructure For promoting sci-comm, gender diversity: IUCAA woman prof highlighted in Nature" (Nov 25, 2025): Covering the global recognition of Indian women scientists in gender studies and physics. Pune researchers find a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way from early universe'' (December 3, 2025)- A report on how Indian researchers discovered a massive galaxy that existed when the universe was just 1.5 billion years old , one of the earliest to have been observed so far. Signature Beat: Health, Science & Women in Leadership Anuradha is known for her COVID-19 reportage, where she was one of the first journalists to provide detailed insights into the Covishield and Covaxin trials. She has a dedicated interest in gender diversity in health and science, often profiling women researchers who are breaking the "leaky pipeline" in STEM fields. Her writing style is scrupulous, often featuring interviews with top-tier scientists and health experts from various institutions. ... Read More

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